Display device



March 17, 1936. W. J. SLAGLE DISPLAY DEVICE Filed Dec. 27, 1933 E SEE Fig. 7

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Patented Mar. 17, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DISPLAY DEVICE Application December 27, 1933, Serial No. 704,150

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in merchandise display cabinets and it comprises a cabinet with a doorlike closure provided with a lock and a. plurality of apertures preferably but not necessarily in both vertical and horizontal symmetrical arrangement, which aresmaller than the smallest face of the merchandise to be displayed therebehind, and it also comprises a plurality of vertically adjustable shelves each provided with a plurality of pairs of horizontally adjustable guides whereby packaged merchandise of nonuniform dimensions carrying identifying legends or labels of uniform size may be so positioned on said shelves by said guides as to bring said legends into register with the corresponding apertures in said closure when the latter is in closed position.

The merchandise display devices heretofore available for the storageand display of packaged merchandise in such public places as garages and automobile repair shops have all left something to be desired in that they were not adequate to prevent pilfering when unattended or, if proof against theft, they were not adapted to effectively display the merchandise, particularly with respect to such systematic arrangement of a sequence of sizes as to permit ready visual location of the label descriptive of the contents and designating the desired size.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved display device and specifically a cabinet for the storage and display of packaged brake linings in which the shortcomings of prior display devices are overcome; to provide a display cabinet for rectangular packages of varying size in which said variation in size does not militate against expeditious and easy location of the desired article; to provide a cabinet with a substantially theft-proof closurecomprising apertures through which the desired article may be visually located but not extracted; to provide a cabinet comprising both vertically and horizontally adjustable means whereby restricted storage areas in symmetrical arrangement with respective viewing apertures are obtained and whereby rectangular packagesmay be so positioned with respect to the viewing apertures in the cabinet closure that the identifying legends on said packages register with said apertures. Other objects and advantages will become apparent as the description of the invention proceeds.

I have discovered that the above stated objects may be attained by providing a display cabinet comprising a closure, adapted to be locked in closed position and provided with a plurality of preferably uniformly spaced and sized apertures useful form my new device is best, though not necessarily, embodied in a sheet metal cabinet with a sheet metal doorlike closure hinged thereto.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a showing in elevation of the outward aspect of the cabinet closure; Figure 2 is an isometric view of the interior of the cabinet; Figure 3 is an isometric view of one of the shelves; and Figure 4 is a side elevational view of one of the transverse guides.

In Figure -1A is a doorlike closure provided with the apertures B which serve to reveal or display the selected portion of the articles on the shelves in the cabinet; and Figure 2 shows the interior arrangement of the cabinet which is provided with cleats D cooperating by means of conventional pins not shown with the holes d for adjusting the height of the shelves C or thereby more specifically the articles on the shelves, with respect to the apertures B in the closure A, Figure 1. The shelves are provided with pairs of adjustable guides E and E for horizontally positioning and retaining the packages in the desired alignment with the apertures B. Figure 3 shows isometrically and in somewhat greater detail the arrangement of the cooperating guides E on the shelf C than is illustrated in Figure 2; and it also shows 'stop bars F which engage the slots G in the guides E and E. The function of the bars F is that of back stop, for packages on the shelves and between the guides, whereby the forward face of the package may, by appropriate adjustment of the stop bar, be maintained in-close proximity to the apertures B in the door A, when the latter is in the closed position. The guides E are adjustably supported upon the shelf C by means of depending lug Ea engaging with one of a series of slots Ca in shelf C and a pin Eb near the front of the guide engaging with one of a series of holes Cb formed near the front of the shelf.

It will be noted that in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing the area of any aperture B is substantially less than the smallest vertical area of the restricted storage space whose width is the distance between the guides E and E and whose height is the distance between any two adjacent shelves. It is one of the essential features of my invention that the apertures in the closure shall be smaller than the smallest face of the packaged article tobe displayed therebehind whereby extraction of the article, without destruction of its package, through the closure is rendered impossible.-

Where articles, as brake linings for instance, are stocked in packages of non-uniform dimensions and preferably in a sequence of varying sizes -I have found it highly desirable to so aflix size-designating and descriptive legends to the varying sized packages as to bring these legends, when the packages are on a shelf, into horizontal alignment and also to space the legends at uniform distances. I have discovered that the location of the desired article may be even more readily accomplished when the packages, or more particularly their identifying legends, are arranged in a systematic and regularly spaced sequence, and all but the legends shielded from view by means of a screen provided with appropriately sized and shaped apertures. In the closure, which not only serves as a door but as an opaque screen to hide from view all but the designating legend, I therefore preferably, though not necessarily, uniformly space the apertures both horizontally and vertically, as these are illustrated in the drawing. If, however, the variation in package size is so great as to make such a uniform arrangement wasteful of storage space, I may arrange the apertures in gradually though preferably regularly increasing distances apart although, as stated, I prefer a uniform spacing. The vertical spacing of rows of apertures is also preferably but not necessarily uniform. I have found it desirable to provide a space of one inch or more between the inside surface of the closure and the outside edge of the horizontal shelves C. By so choosing the length of the guides E and E or the position of the stops F, Figure 3, relative to the length of the packages, the latter may be made to extend over the edge of the shelf and thus be more easily withdrawn. From the foregoing description of one embodiment of this invention it will be apparent that different arrangements of closure, as for instance two doors or a sliding panel closure, may be substituted for the single door illustrated in the drawing without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the claims. While rectangular apertures are illustrated in the drawing, apertures of widely variant shapes may be substituted therefor provided only that the apertures are smaller than the smallest side of the package to be displayed therebehind and so render it impossible to remove such packaged articles without destruction of the packages. The apertures may or may not be provided with a covering of transparent material such as glass as desired. In place of the adjustable retaining shelves illustrated in the drawing there may be substituted other types of shelves or other adjustable means defining and registering the storage space and for maintaining and positioning therevided with a plurality of rows of horizontally.

aligned apertures, a plurality of shelves within said cabinet,,each shelf being associated with an individual row of apertures, and a plurality of pairs of guides on each shelf, each pair of guides being associated with an individual aperture, both the component members of said pairs of guides and said shelves being adjustable with respect to said apertures and the area of said apertures being substantially less than the vertical area defined by and between adjacent shelves and laterally by and between the component members of said pairs of guides.

2. In combination, a cabinet, a plurality of shelves arranged within said cabinet, an opaque closure for said cabinet'provided with a plurality of horizontally aligned apertures associated with each shelf, means for supporting said shelves in vertically adjustable relation to said apertures, a plurality of pairs of transverse guides arranged on each shelf, each pair of guides being associated with an individual aperture, a stop bar for each pair of guides, and means for supporting each stop bar across its respective pairof guides at adiustable positions from the front of said shelf.

3. In combination, a cabinet, a plurality of shelves arranged within said cabinet, an opaque closure for said cabinet provided with a plurality of horizontally aligned apertures associated with each shelf, means for supporting said shelves in vertically adjustable relation to said apertures, a plurality of pairs of transverse guides arranged on each shelf, each pair of guides being associated with an individual aperture, means for supporting each pair of. guides on said shelves in laterally adjustable relation to its respective aperture, a stop bar for each pair of guides, and means for supporting each stop bar across its respective pair of guides at adjustable positions from the front of said shelf.

4. In combination, a cabinet, a plurality of shelves arranged within said cabinet, an opaque closure for said cabinet provided with a plurality of horizontally aligned apertures associated with each shelf, means for supporting said shelves in vertically adjustable relation to said apertures, a plurality of pairs of transverse guides arranged on each shelf, each pair of guides being associated with an individual aperture, means for supporting each pair of guides on said shelves in laterally adjustable relation to its respective aperture, each transverse guide being provided with a plurality of notches near the rear end thereof, and a stop bar for each pair of guides supported in said notches.

WILLARD J. SLAGLE. 

